A few months ago I was pottering about on Tumblr when I came across a fantastic blog called Hipster Food (if your vegan you must check it out!) They had posted about a mixture of cooked lentils, oats and other ingredients that could be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge to be used in various meals throughout the week. I thought this was a brilliant idea and booked marked the details in my Evernote. I’ve always been a fan of cooking up big batches of food at the weekend to eat through the week to save time and this was right up my street. I’ve called this recipe Magic Mixture because it really does have so many uses and can be the base for lots of different flavour combinations.

The Magic Mixture Basic formula (adapted from idea on Hipster Food, vegan, makes about 5 cups):

• 4 cups of cooked beans mashed or blended (with a little water if needed – this would be about 2 tins if not cooking from scratch)
• 1 cup of ground oats
• 1/2 cup of ground nuts (raw or roasted depending on your preference)
• 2 tbsp of ground flax
• 2 tbsp of soy sauce
• 2 tbsp of oil of choice
• Seasonings of choice
• Fresh herbs (optional)

I decided to go with a bit of an Italian pesto flavour. This is what I used for this batch:

• 4 cups of cooked red lentils (2 cups dry lentils cooked in 4 cups of water – as red lentils breakdown in cooking I didn’t blend)
• 1 cup of ground oats (just regular oats processed)
• 1/2 cup of ground pine nuts
• 2 tbsp of ground flax
• 2 tbsp of soy sauce
• 2 tbsp of hemp oil
• 2 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tbsp of garlic powder
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• fresh basil

I started by grinding the oats and nuts in my food processor and setting aside while the lentils cooked…

…once the lentils had cooked and become quite thick I added them to a big bowl along with the oats and pine nuts…

…then I mixed together with all the other ingredients…

…added some chopped basil…

…and left to cool before refrigerating…

Once it has cooled you can keep it in the fridge all week and use it however you like! It firms up quite a bit as well. Here’s a few ideas for how you could use it:

• As a sandwich spread
• Wrap filling
• Baked or fried into a lentil / bean burger
• Baked or fried into ‘meat balls’ for pasta
• Baked into ‘falafel’ and stuffed into a pitta bread
• Crumbled into a salad
• As a topping for a baked potato
• As a dip for veggies
• Spread on crackers as a pate
• Transferred into a loaf pan and baked

I think I’m going to get 5 – 6 meals out of this mix. So far I’ve eaten it warmed up and piled on top of a baked sweet potato accompanied by roast asparagus:

As a pate spread on raw crackers, as pictured at the top of the post. I also baked some of it into balls (200c for 30 minutes) and served them on top of some salad for lunches:

This really is quite delicious, the mix of ingredients and flavours I used for this batch go together brilliantly!

The great thing about this recipe is that you can really play around with the flavours and ingredients. How about using nut butter to replace the ground nuts and oil? Or using chickpeas and adding ground cumin and coriander for a different twist? It is also very very cheap – beans and lentils are super affordable and if your looking for a cheap nut then I would try sunflower seeds or peanut butter, yum!

How would you enjoy the Magic Mixture?

Hi folks, hope your enjoying a blissful weekend! So far mine has been a good one indeed. There has been coffee…

…and an outdoor run and get this, with James! He decided to come out with me this morning and run a couple of loops around the block. Why is it that some one that doesn’t do a lot of exercise other than walking can run way faster than me? Damn those long legs of his ;-) He’s definitely a born sprinter. He hasn’t ran with me in the past as he has problems with his knees but we are thinking if he builds up slowly he might be ok. I continued on after that and did perhaps 3.5 – 4.5 miles – not sure what time as I was sans Garmin but it was just good to be running outside! Afterwards I came home and did this 30 minute yoga power flow from You Tube, so many chaturangas!

I have to say I feel like I’ve out done myself this weekend with the eats, I’ve made some delicious stuff! It all started on Friday evening when I made a Thai Green Soya Bean Noodle Bowl. I’ve made this a couple of times over the last few months and it is quickly becoming my favourite meal! I though it was about time I shared the recipe properly:

Thai Green Soya Bean Noodle Bowl (vegan, serves 1 hungry person or 2 normal people ;-)

• 2 tbsp Thai green curry paste (I use Thai Taste which is vegan)
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger, grated
• Approx 150ml coconut milk – I used full fat but light would be fine too
• Clearspring Soya Sauce Ramen Noodles – 1 pack of noodles and soya sauce pack (or use pre cooked or other noodles of choice and soy sauce)
• 1/2 cup frozen soya beans, thawed
• 1 cup roast squash (I use Kabocha but butternut would be equally as good)
• 1 heaping cup shredded spring greens

In a big wok or frying pan, gently fry off the ginger and curry paste in a little oil (I used coconut oil) over a medium heat. Once the paste has become fragrant (about 2 minutes) add the coconut milk and stir to combine. Add your noodles to the pan (if your using the ramen noodles or other dried noodles) and add some hot water from the kettle – just enough to cover the noodles, and simmer until the noodles are cooked. Add the sachet of soya sauce from the ramen noodle pack (or add a tbsp of soy sauce) and stir before adding the soya beans. Add your squash (and noodles if using pre cooked ones) and then pile the shredded greens on top. Allow the greens to wilt a bit in the heat then stir them into the broth which should be fairly thick. Once the greens are tender serve in a large bowl or ladle out into two regular size bowls:

Seriously this is so so good, in fact it could be a contender for my favourite meal ever especially when made with the full fat coconut milk. Its also very quick to make if you have the squash roasted and ready to go and you could probably just add the beans frozen straight into the pan and just simmer a little longer. Absolutely delish!

For breakfast yesterday I decided to make use of the coconut milk leftover from the noodle bowl by following this method for making acai cultured coconut yoghurt! I had a sample of acai powder from an iHerb order so thought I would give it ago after making my own very simple coconut yoghurt a couple of weeks ago (just by refrigerating full fat coconut milk). I had some with blueberries, buckwheaties, pecans and maple syrup:

It was wonderful! I think if I made this again I would leave it out of the fridge somewhere warm overnight so it would ferment a bit more to develop more yoghurt like tang.

Lunch yesterday was a simple but really nice salad with spinach, romaine, red pepper, roast kabocha a sprinkle of fresh parsley and some tahini dressing:

I made the dressing really quickly in a jar by mixing tahini with lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, garlic, sweet white miso and water so I have enough for a few meals. I added some to another special meal I made this weekend, raw curried cauliflower with herbed socca and roast purple sprouting broccoli:

I’d been wanting to try the raw cauliflower ever since I saw this recipe on Some Like It Raw and it didn’t disappoint! I made a few amendments adding some coconut and a few chopped dried unsulphured apricots to the mix instead of the honey. For the spices I used turmeric, garam masala and cumin. It was well nice, and the socca turned out brilliantly too, especially dipped in that tahini dressing :-)

Other snackies include:

Raw snack plate with persimmons, apples, raw chocolate covered raisins and raw granola pieces

Blueberries, apple, peanut flour sauce, chopped dark chocolate buttons

Veggies, blue corn chips and sunflower butter and miso dipping sauce (the chips dipped in the sauce, so good!)

Of course there has also been green juices and green smoothies consumed too! Yesterday we took a quick trip into town to pick up a couple of things:

Feeling the pink, OOTD (haha caught a bit off guard!) leather look hooded jacket: Topshop, pink jersey wrap around scarf: Topshop, floral blouse: Oasis, coral Cambridge style satchel: H&M, gold chunky ring: Topshop, skinny ‘Baxter’ jeans: Topshop, biker style boots: Oasis

After town I called into a tattooist to discuss my ideas for my tattoo! Getting a half sleeve tattoo is on my wish list for 2012 and I want to make sure I have it done well before the summer as I want to show it off! I have another appointment to go in next weekend and finalise my design and arrange a date for my first sitting. Excited would be an understatement! Other than that I’ve been cooking up stuff again (including a great recipe I’ll share tomorrow), watching Family Guy Star Wars, painting my toe nails pink and reading Eat Pray Love. Good times!

How has your weekend been? What would you say is your current favourite meal? My favourite foods tend to change depending on the season and that Thai Green Curry is just everything I want in a meal right now!

Hi everyone, hope your having a great Saturday! Just a quick post with the winner of my House Plant GIVEAWAY:

The winner is Katy Aubery! Please email me at laura@keepinghealthygettingstylish with your address and I’ll get your plant sent out!

Are you looking to promote your healthy living or fashion blog or brand? Sponsor Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish this March!

Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish is an up and coming healthy living blog that has recently been featured on the Channel 4 Food website and Channel 4 Beauty Website and has been ranked as one of the Top 10 Health Blogs in the UK by Cisson PR.

I am interested in supporting other healthy living and style bloggers, Etsy businesses and small ethical brands whose ethos are in line with my own. All income generated via sponsorship opportunities are reinvested in making Keeping Healthy Getting Stylisheven bigger and better!

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Don't worry if you don't have a blog button, I can design you a tailor made blog button for just £5! That’s just £10 for a month sponsorship and a tailor made blog button!

If you are interested please email me laura@keepinghealthygettingstylish.com thanks!

I’ve had a fun and busy week including a really positive business meeting, a great yoga class, a very exciting tap installation (sounds random but more explanation on that to come!) and getting my application to register with the Federation of Holistic Therapists sent off. I love feeling productive!

I’ve had some super eats this week so I’m just going to give you a photo dump of them all:

Carob, coconut and raspberry ‘ice cream’ topped with tofu cream and cacao nibs and coconut, delish!

Salad beast with black beans and avocado

For breakfast on Shrove Tuesday: Chocolate protein pancakes (made with spelt flour, chocolate hemp powder and kara coconut milk) topped with chopped pears and chocolate hazelnut butter sauce, mmm!

Post yoga smoothie of Spiru-tein chocolate chip cookie dough flavour topped with cacao nibs (not totally crazy about this new to me flavour, just tastes like vanilla!)

Chocolate pear and ginger green smoothie with spring greens, 2 pears, chocolate sun warrior protein powder, raw cacao powder, maca, ground flax, fresh ginger root, water and ice topped with more pear and raw granola

Badly handmade nori rolls with leftover cooked brown rice, avocado, carrot and cucumber – tasted great though!

Grilled smoked sesame tofu with brown rice, stir fried broccoli and brussel sprouts and peanut sauce

Montezuma Dark Chocolate turtles (so cute!) with chopped apples

 Honey and hemp muffin from the freezer with 2 chopped pears and a sachet of Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter for spreading, yum!

Persimmon slices topped with coconut butter and goji berries

Green smoothie with spinach, frozen mango, vanilla sun warrior protein powder, maca, ground flax, water and ice topped with popped amaranth, cashews and flame raisins

So quite a varied and delicious week!

I’ve also had a pretty varied workout out week including finally finding a half decent yoga class!

• Sunday – AM gym workout – 5k treadmill run, 15 min random bike, Kettlebell class
• Monday – AM Yoga podcast, PM DVD mash up
• Tuesday – PM Yoga class
• Wednesday – AM 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength workout B from Base phase of Female Body Breakthrough, 10 min HIIT step machine, 10 min HIIT bike
• Thursday – PM Yoga class
• Friday – AM 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength workout A from Base phase of Female Body Breakthrough, 10 min HIIT step machine, 10 min HIIT bike

I went to a new yoga class on Tuesday night at my local community centre and I loved it! Its still not a fast flowing class but I really liked the teacher who does a mix of Ivengar and Ashtanga styles and the whole vibe of the class was really great. Although I didn’t get a major sweat on I got a really good stretch, my muscles could certainly feel it the day after! It was also really good to have a teacher adjusting my pose and explaining things in more detail, it made me realise that although DVD’s and podcasts are great there’s no substitute for attending a class. I find that a class improves my practice so that I get more out of the yoga I do at home. I also realised that my focus on finding a faster flowing sweaty class was a bit daft considering the whole reason I wanted to do more yoga was to relax and help firm up a bit! As this class is on the same night as Body Pump, I’m going to alternate classes every two weeks.

To end this post I’m taking inspiration from one of my fave bloggers – Bonzai Aphrodite (such a shame she’s stopped blogging) and doing a weekend send off love list!  

Loving my sexy new tap installed today complete with a built in Brita filter!

A little while ago I was contacted by Brita to see if I would like to trial one of their tap water filters. I’ll blog more about this in future but its brilliant! The actual tap is such an improvement on our last one and has really made the whole kitchen look more stylish. I’ve always used a jug Brita filter in the fridge but this is so much more convenient. Other things on my love list this week:

Pig tails (the only way I can tie all of my hair back without bits falling out) // yoga of course! // listening to ‘Some Body I Used To Know’ by Gotye on repeat // getting tickets for Kendal Calling (so excited!) // stripes and polka dots // not stuffing myself on an evening anymore // feeling full of gratitude

What have you been loving this week? If your a yoga fan what’s your thoughts on classes v’s DVD’s and podcasts? Hope you have a brilliant weekend!

You still have a few hours left to enter my house plant GIVEAWAY, check it out!

Happy Wednesday, hope your week is going fabulously! Ready for another veg packed WIAW? These are my eats and happenings from Monday, enjoy!

I’m kind of playing about with my workout schedule at the moment while I’m exploring the yoga class options in my area so instead of going to the gym first thing like I usually do I just got up and did a quick yoga podcast to start the week off right. I did a 20 minute detox challenge flow from Yoga Download which was a great way to start the day. After the usual warm water and lemon I made a very tasty breakfast:

I had some plain tofu cream leftover from making the Spicy Sweet Potato and Almond Butter Gratin (so glad you guys are loving that recipe!) so mixed it with a touch of stevia then combined with a small chopped apple, frozen blueberries, uncooked oats and topped with some bee pollen and pumpkin seeds. It tasted amazing, I am crazy about the multiple uses of silken tofu right now! I also enjoyed an amaretto coffee with kara coconut milk:

Mid morning at work I snacked on some sugar snap peas, sliced red peppers and raw maca dip:

I also had a mug of miso:

I used to drink miso all the time but had fallen out of the habit. On Monday I just fancied something savoury and that did the trick. For lunch I had leftover quinoa with chickpeas, cranberries and parsley on top of a big bowl of mixed salad greens and home sprouted alfalfa:

Mid afternoon I snacked on a couple of pink lady apples:

I can’t get enough of these at the moment!

I had been planning to try to get into the gym Monday night Body Pump class as I had decided to try a new yoga class which is held on a Tuesday evening when I would have went to my usual Body Pump class. Unfortunately the Monday night class had been fully booked and I was on the reserve list but instead of showing up and not getting a place I decided to go with the flow and head home for a DVD workout mash up!

I did 30 Day Shred Level 1, Davina Fit Top fit (minus the warm up and cool down) and half an hour of core conditioning Yogalates:

I’m very glad I have such a varied DVD collection, this was really good fun for a change!

For dinner I just kept it simple with some leftover lentil soup, organic blue corn chips and some steamed broccoli with soy sauce and nutritional yeast:

A bit later in the evening I decided to treat myself for dessert and raided the freezer for a slice of my raw salted caramel pecan cake:

I keep forgetting how truly delicious this is. It tastes so buttery it is amazing!

Before bed I had a mug of spicy liquorice and cinnamon tea:

As usual, throughout the day I drank several cups of green tea, green tea with chai and rooibos.

So most of my eats on Monday were made up of leftovers from the weekend re worked. I used to spend a lot of time making up single serving meals (as James usually eats differently to me) but now I make things with multiple portions and reuse the leftovers in different ways. I find that a grain and protein type meal like the quinoa and chickpeas can be made lunch friendly by throwing on top of salad greens. The leftover tofu cream was easily combined with the oats and fruit just like you would do yoghurt, but could have just as easily been mixed with nutritional yeast, garlic and lemon juice and used as a sauce for veggies. The soup was made into a more substantial meal by adding the blue corn chips and the big bowl of broccoli – I need my green veggies!

What’s your favourite way to re work leftovers?

Don’t forget to enter my lovely House Plant GIVEAWAY if you haven’t checked it out already!

Doctor gives tips on falling asleep

"Coping with Insomnia" will be the next topic in the Waveny Care Center and Norwalk Hospital lecture series at 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 1. The featured speaker is Ian Weir, associate director of the Sleep Disorders Center and director of the Insomnia Center at Norwalk Hospital.

The talk is at Waveny Care Center, 3 Farm Road, New Canaan. Weir will talk about symptoms of the disorder and offer tips on how people can become more successful at falling asleep. Weir has written about pulmonary medicine topics and sleep disorders, with his work appearing in medical journals. Call 203-594-5334.

MS walks planned to raise awareness

On April 10, there will be nine sites across the state at which people will gather to raise awareness about multiple sclerosis and raise funds for research. Westport will host a walk on Sunday, April 3. The insurance company Travelers is back for the fifth year as the title sponsor for the walks, which are run by the Connecticut Chapter of the National MS Society. Last year, the walk attracted nearly 9,000 participants and raised more than $1.3 million. The chapter hopes to raise $1.4 million.

Walks will take place in Stamford at Cove Island Park, in Westport at Sherwood Island State Park, and at West Haven High School. Check-in begins at 8 and the walk kicks off at 9 a.m. at Stamford and West Haven. Check-in in Westport begins at 9. and the walk begins at 10 a.m. To learn more or to register, visit www.ctfightsMS.org or call 860-913-2550 or 860-913-2550.

Panel on heart disorder, club on respiratory disease

A panel of Bridgeport Hospital physicians will discuss the causes and treatment of atrial fibrillation during a free lecture, "Heart All A-Flutter? Get Your Rhythm Back!" at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24, at the Trumbull Marriott, 180 Hawley Lane. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Speakers include cardiac electrophysiologist Dr. Murali Chiravuri, director of cardiac electrophysiology Dr. Craig McPherson, and chief of cardiothoracic surgery Dr. M. Clive Robinson.

At 1:30 p.m. Feb. 25, the Better Breathing Club will meet at Bridgeport Hospital, duPont Board Room, 267 Grant St. The support group for those with chronic respiratory disease. For more information, call 888-357-2396.

Source http://www.ctpost.com/health/article/Health-notes-1024027.php

When I first looked through River Cottage Veg Everyday after getting it as a gift from my best friend for Christmas, I knew immediately which recipe I just had to make:

Sweet Potato? Peanut Butter? Hell yes! However the main ingredient in this after sweet potatoes is double cream, not exactly vegan friendly, so I decided to do a Laura version of the recipe. I changed up some of the flavours adding ginger along with the garlic and extra chilli instead of the lime, using silken tofu to replace the cream and because I’m such a fan of the sweet potato and almond butter combo, switching up the nut butters.

While this is still a rather rich recipe, the omission of the oil and cream from the original recipe reduces the amount of fat, and the inclusion of the tofu brings some protein to the party to balance out the carbs from the potatoes. A healthy makeover indeed!

Spicy Sweet Potato and Almond Butter Gratin (Adapted from Sweet Potato and Peanut Gratin: River Cottage Cook Veg Everyday, vegan, serves 2)

• Approximately 500g of sweet potatoes
• 1/2 block of mori nu silken tofu
• 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp of finely chopped red chilli (I used lazy chilli from a jar)
• 2 tbsp of almond butter (add a little salt if your nut butter is unsalted)
• salt and pepper

Pre heat the oven to 190c. Begin by making the tofu cream – blend the silken tofu in a food processor or blender with 1/2 a cup of water and combine with the ginger, garlic and chilli. Peel the potatoes and slice into thin rounds about 2-3 mm thick. Add the potatoes to the tofu cream along with some salt and pepper and mix well.

In a separate bowl mix the almond butter with 2 tbsp of hot water until smooth.

Grease a baking dish (I used two individual ones) and fill half full with the sweet potatoes. Spoon the almond butter on top:

Layer on the rest of the sweet potatoes pouring on any remaining tofu cream in the bowl.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes then remove the foil and bake for another 40 minutes. The potatoes should be tender and browned on the top. Serve!

This is rich, sweet and spicy with a lovely hit of salty creaminess from the almond butter. The topping becomes slightly crispy and caramelised, so good! Due to the ginger, garlic and chilli this has quite an Asian flavour and would go really well with some stir fried veggies like broccoli or a fresh green salad. Obviously this isn’t as creamy as the original recipe would have been, but you could add more of the tofu cream if you wanted a more creamy result.

Delish!

Are you a fan of the sweet potato and nut butter combo?